Who’s Got Next in 2014-15: Centers

Today, we’ll look at the next crop of players from the center spot who show the type of budding talent that fan bases hope will pay dividends sooner rather than later. We are no longer in the era of dominant big men. That being said, there is plenty of talent in the league and a big man with skills at the center spot is still very much valued. The old adage of you can’t teach height is something you will hear in NBA circles that still holds weight today. It’s the reason you will see big men drafted near the top of the draft time and time again, even if the prospect may appear to be unpolished as many teams in the league hope to find the next Tim Duncan, Hakeem Olajuwon or Bill Russell.

Right now, the cream of the crop are veteran players such as Dwight Howard, Joakim Noah, Al Jefferson, Marc Gasol, Al Horford and (when healthy) Brook Lopez. These are guys that your team can count on to perform at an elite level every night. Joining them, you also have players who have started to mature early, showing they can produce at a high level such as Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins. So who’s next in line you might ask? Which big men have the talent to take things to the next level?

Jonas Valanciunas

Selected as the fifth overall pick in 2011 by the Toronto Raptors, Valanciunas hails from Lithuania, a European country that is very passionate about basketball. After a slow start during his rookie year in which he needed to acclimate himself to his new situation, he followed it up with a very encouraging second season in which he was named the MVP of the 2013 summer league – averaging 18.8 points and 10 rebounds per game while shooting 56 percent from the field. With newfound confidence, he looked solid although not spectacular in his second season but showed enough to give Raptor fans hope for more to come. During this year’s FIBA World Cup tournament, it was the young big man who was looked upon to be a leader on both ends of the floor and he turned heads around the league with his performances. The time he’s spent working on his strength and post moves has started to pay off.

Look for the Lithuanian big man to take the next step this year as his coaches have seen his improvement and want to make him a focal point in his third year to take scoring pressure off the backcourt. Kyle Lowry has made it known that he believes it will be his duty this year to feed the big man early to help balance the scoring and space on the floor. He will have every opportunity to take the next step in his progression this year and if his young career is any indicator, he will deliver.

Derrick Favors

It’s rare that you see a top three draft selection get traded during his rookie season before a team really gets a chance to see what he can do. Favors got introduced into the business side of the NBA quickly once he discovered he was traded as part of package as a rookie from the Brooklyn Nets to the Utah Jazz for Deron Williams. A slow starter entering the league at the very tender age of 19 , the youngest player in the NBA at the time he was drafted, it was not unusual to see a big man with raw skills not immediately dominate once he entered the league. The patience the Jazz brass has shown is starting to pay off as the Atlanta native is starting to feel comfortable in Utah coming off a recently signed four-year contract extension in 2013 that may prove to be a bargain at $49 million when it’s all said and done.

One of the big reasons why Favors is likely to see a leap in production this year is new Jazz head coach Quin Snyder’s offense along with the maturity in his game. The new Jazz offense is heavy on ball movement and will be at a faster tempo, which plays to Favors’ strengths as a long, mobile and athletic big man. Look for him to receive more feeds cutting to the basket rather than operating in the post and expecting him to create his own shot, which is still a work in progress for him. Defensively is where Favor has the capability to be elite as he’s quick enough to get out and contest shots on the perimeter if need be but also be a defensive anchor in the paint with his immense physical tools. Coming into his fifth season in the NBA, with increased minutes and more responsibility on the team look for Favors to start flourishing.

Nikola Vucevic

Sometimes the grass really is greener on the other side. When the Philadelphia 76ers traded Vucevic to the Orlando Magic, the change in scenery sparked the young big man who started to produce at a level that surprised many. In his short time with his new team, he’s been a double-double machine posting an average of 14.2 points and 11 rebounds per game. For a 7’0, that’s still only 24 years old in his third year in the league, and there’s plenty for the Magic to be excited about with his development. He did suffer an Achilles injury last year that caused him to miss 29 games, which was a bit of a concern. Health is something that has marred the careers of many promising big men, but he’s returned to action and during the preseason he’s looked like he hasn’t missed a beat. With a lack of big men with his skills on a very young team, he will get all the minutes he can handle this season.

Andre Drummond

The UConn product came into the league as what many believed to be a “boom or bust” type draft pick. His work ethic, motor and love for the game were questioned by many teams despite his tremendous physical tools. In the end, the Detroit Pistons believed in him and with two years of experience under his belt he’s starting to look the part of a dominant center. As a 7’0 big man with a 7’4 wingspan and a nice frame to grow into, there’s plenty to like about Drummond. He’s heard the criticism and has taken the approach to prove the doubters wrong. He looked great over the summer and surprised many as he made the 12-man roster for Team USA. The confidence he’s displayed for a 21-year-old is nothing short of spectacular as it’s carried over into this year’s preseason. Against the Atlanta Hawks for example, he posted a line of 19 points, 17 rebounds, three blocks and two steals. Now with a new head coach in Stan Van Gundy, who’s worked with plenty of elite big men in his time, there will be no shortage of help for him to reach his potential. The future looks very bright for Drummond.

Steven Adams

It’s hard for a rookie to earn playing time on a rotation for a championship contender, but Steven Adams did exactly just that last season with the Oklahoma City Thunder. The New Zealand native had many around the league take notice of him with his energy, hustle and aggressive style of play. He’s not a guy that’s going to dominate the game on the offensive end, but he is a guy that’s going to get under the opposing players skin, make them work for every bucket and make winning plays on both ends of the court. Adams has also impressed quite a bit during the preseason this year for the Thunder, which bodes well for him considering the noted decline in last year’s starting center Kendrick Perkins. With rumors swirling about Adams being thrust in to the starting center role this year for the Thunder, expect an uptick in production as he will look to capitalize on the opportunity.

Larry Sanders

Elite rim protector. That what you have in Larry Sanders. It’s not unusual to see him have games where gets more than three blocks. It’s why he got paid last summer to the tune of $44 million over four years. Unfortunately for the Milwaukee Bucks, he also seemed intent on making the team immediately regret that decision by a series of events that caused him to be in the news for the wrong reasons. We are of course talking about a night club incident that led to him breaking his thumb and then testing positive for marijuana, which violated the league’s anti-drug policy. It also doesn’t help that he’s been near the top of the list for most technical fouls in a season. So why is he on this list? Quite simply if Sanders can prove that last year was aberration and show what he’s capable of, all of these things will be soon forgotten. His defensive instincts are something that you just can’t teach. Last season, he averaged 12 points, 11.1 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game after the All-Star break. The talent is there. He’s worked on his limited offensive skills during the offseason and has looked solid during the preseason this year. If he can return to form and stay out of the news, he may be poised to have a breakout year.

Honorable Mentions: Enes Kanter, Nerlens Noel

All the players listed have youth and opportunity on their side, which means they could breakout in the upcoming NBA season. Feel free to let us know what you think or if you feel we’ve missed someone.

The NBA has zeroed in on a July 31st return – and it’s barely cracked the news.

Well, that’s an exaggeration. It’s just that the confluence of civil unrest and the COVID-19 pandemic has morphed into a supernova of stressors that seem virtually insurmountable — and together, they’ve swallowed up the entirety of the 24-hour news cycle. It’s important to note that the loss of basketball pales in comparison to the many hurdles African Americans face with varying – but almost certain – regularity. And with 80.7% of NBA players being people of color (according to a recent study by the University of Central Florida), it’s obviously an incredibly personal issue for many of us close to the game.

But back to the NBA’s return…

The NBA is set on a 22-team solution that includes returning for eight games with the added bonus of a possible play-in tournament. Further, Oct. 12 will be the latest date for a potential Game 7 of the 2020 NBA Finals. But not only is the NBA officially returning, we now know how and when.

We also know who — and the Dallas Mavericks are in that group of teams that will return to regular season play. They are currently the seventh seed in the Western Conference and they possess a 7-game lead over the eighth-seeded Memphis Grizzlies. That means it’s highly unlikely that they’ll need to compete in the play-in tournament, and they’ll instead focus on regaining midseason form and identifying their first-round opponent. But lots of things must work in their favor if they hope to get past that step.

The Mavericks entered the season boasting the 2018-19 Rookie of the Year – Luka Doncic – and they were finally ready to add Kristaps Porzingis back into their lineup. But no one knew how Porzingis would look upon his return from a 2018 knee injury; and while Doncic’s rookie season exceeded all expectations, his net effect was limited as far as team success was concerned (33-49).

But despite the doubt, Dallas has looked every bit the part of a playoff team. Doncic has put up MVP-caliber numbers and Porzingis acclimated nicely. But what must the Mavericks do to continue building momentum, and maybe even deliver a first-round upset? Let’s examine the most pressing X-factors for Dallas in their pursuit of a return to contender status.

First of all, the most important thing the Mavericks need to make a postseason run is their health. The Mavericks haven’t been entirely healthy all year. Porzingis tweaked his right knee only a few short months after returning from left knee injury that sidelined him for more than a year and a half. As a result, he missed six straight games and sat out a total of 16 games in 2019-20.

While missing games was the primary concern, Porzingis’s real hurdle has been ramping up from his extended hiatus. Porzingis was clearly not his old self immediately upon his return – and that’s reflected in his averages. He averaged only 15.8 points per game in 13 games in November and only 17.2 points per game in 20 games between December and January. But he found his groove in February, posting 25.2 points and 10.6 rebounds per game. And he followed that up with 23.2 points, 11.2 rebounds and 3.6 blocks per game in five contests in March before the shutdown. Porzingis clearly figured out where he fits with the Mavericks; and if he continues playing like he did in March and April, the Mavericks should boast a mismatch up front on most nights.

But even at his best, Porzingis alone doesn’t elevate the Mavericks to contenders. The Mavericks need more from their role players, too. With free agency remaining closed until the conclusion of the season (although it may open before the draft this year), teams must work with what they have at their disposal. That means that any solution must already be on their roster. And while options are obviously limited, there is one player from whom they could expect a little more – Seth Curry.

Let’s start with the elephant in the room – Curry is simply not on his brother’s level in terms of talent, and he never will be. But considering just how special Stephen Curry is, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. What he lacks in ability (relative to his brother), Seth Curry makes up for with fearlessness. The younger Curry has carved out a real role in his second stint with the Mavericks, taking and making shots at an impressive rate; Curry is shooting a scorching 45.3% on three-point attempts over the entire season. And looking ahead, Dallas should unleash him even more. While Curry is averaging only 12.6 points in 24.5 minutes per game, his scoring average jumps to 20.5 points on 67.6% three-point shooting when given 30+ minutes. If the Mavericks hope to be competitive (and maybe even advance) in the 2020 NBA Playoffs, Curry may very well be the key.

Last, but definitely not least, is Doncic himself – specifically, how in-shape he is upon his return. The Mavericks need a physically fit Doncic to return in July. And he very well may do just that. Remember, it was only about a year ago that he committed himself to lifting weights and conditioning – and this season he’s the sixth-leading scorer in the league and a (long shot) MVP candidate. Mavericks’ owner Mark Cuban joked about Doncic’s conditioning last Summer.

“He came (in the summer of 2019) and he was working out with coach,” Cuban said. “I actually saw an ab, so it was a step in the right direction. There may have been two. But he’s definitely in better shape (than he was last season).”

“Anytime Luka (Doncic) goes overseas and people don’t see him there’s going to be these rumors, ‘He’s beefing up again, he’s looking puffy,’” MacMahon said. “That rumor’s out there. I asked. I was told that he looks fine on their Zoom calls, he’s been working out and he’s actually been playing pickleball over Slovenia.”

Doncic is a major wild card in that no one knows what to expect. We’ll know more soon.

Ultimately, the Mavericks are going to have a challenging time advancing past the elite teams in the league. But if Porzingis, Curry and Doncic don’t all return ready to play the best basketball of their respective careers, an early elimination is a near certainty. If they can all reach new highs, they’ll have a chance.

The X-Factors: Indiana

There’s a lot going on right now. So much so that it’s overshadowed a positive string of news – the NBA is (hopefully) coming back. We don’t know when that is, and we don’t know how they’re going to approach the rest of the 2019-20 season, but at least we know that pro basketball is coming back.

If you’ve been keeping in touch with Basketball Insiders over the past week, we’ve been looking over X-Factors that can shape the chances of potential playoff teams. X-Factors like injuries, how teams figure out their rotation, getting past their internal issues, and so on and so forth. We’ve already gone over New Orleans, Portland, Brooklyn and Memphis. Today, we’re going over the Indiana Pacers.

Over the past three years, the Pacers have been unanimously crowned as one of the league’s more entertaining underdogs. Since they started their new era of basketball post-Paul George, their identity has centered around their scrappiness and effort. It’s what’s led to them having two consecutive 48-win seasons and being on pace to win 49 this season. If that’s not enough, they’ve done this while having their new face of the franchise Victor Oladipo fully healthy for only one season during that time.

There’s only one problem. In spite of them wildly exceeding expectations, it hasn’t led to much playoff success. In their defense, some of that came from factors that were out of their control, like having to face LeBron in the first round one year and losing Oladipo mid-season the next. This upcoming postseason is their chance to prove that there is more to them than being the little train that could.

For Indiana to take that next step, their chances start and end with how much of Victor Oladipo that we’ll get to see from Victor Oladipo.

First, let’s give props to the Pacers for being able to manage without ‘Dipo for the past year or so. Teams more often than not crash and burn after they lose their best player. Indiana can take pride knowing that they weren’t one of them. They’ve proven that they’re a good team without him – which definitely wasn’t the case his first year when he exploded. At this point though, good isn’t enough for them, which is why they still need him at full strength to achieve their full potential.

Alas, integrating an all-NBA caliber player following a devastating injury to a team that was playing fine without him is much easier said than done — the 2018-19 Boston Celtics can attest to that. It can really boggle down to two reasons why.

1. A star coming off a serious injury mid-season needs time to shake off the rust
2. Working him into a rotation that was doing fine without him is hard to maneuver

When Oladipo came back, neither he nor the Pacers could avoid those issues. Indiana went 7-6 and seemed to go hot and cold. After winning an overtime thriller against Chicago, they went on a five-game losing streak. They followed that with a six-game winning streak before losing to Boston in a close battle just as the NBA shut down. In that 13-game span, Oladipo averaged nearly 14 points on 39/30/78 splits along with three rebounds and three assists. Those numbers are to be expected knowing what’s happened to him, but not the ones you regularly want from your franchise player.

However, that last loss to Boston bred reason for optimism for Oladipo. He had his best game of the season by, scoring 27 points on 9-for-16 shooting including 5-for-7from three. Better yet, he single-handedly spurred a 9-2 run that helped the Pacers catch up to the Celtics late in the fourth quarter. He was the best player on the floor when it mattered, and he did his damage against a good team. He looked like Victor Oladipo again!

Unfortunately, his performance was like a show putting on its best episode just as it was about to go on hiatus. Because the NBA shortly put the season on hold afterward, we don’t know if it was all a fluke or if it was him trending upwards. We’ll get a better look when the season resumes.

If we get the Victor Oladipo that put the league on notice just two years ago, then the Pacers become one of the playoff sleepers with an ambiguous ceiling. Granted, Indiana has progressed enough as a team that they don’t have to rely on him as much as they did two years ago, but adding a two-way star to an already good team opens so many possibilities. It wouldn’t be the end of the world if they don’t get that version of Oladipo when the playoffs come around, but if they do, absolutely no one would want to face them in the playoffs.

If they believe that they can get the Oladipo of old, his presence would mean someone(s) else isn’t getting minutes. Playoff rotations always shorten because teams want their best guys out there. Jeremy Lamb’s awful season-ending knee injury does make things simpler in that regard, but Oladipo will have to absorb a lot of minutes if Indiana wants him to get his best form back, which means the back-end rotation guys in Indiana like TJ McConnell and the Holiday brothers might be riding the pine more than what they are used to.

Oladipo at full strength is obviously a lot better than those players, but as stated before, him coming back at full strength is not a guarantee. Giving him minutes at the expense of others who have been productive is a gamble especially now that it’s looking more and more likely that the NBA will start with the playoffs right off the bat.

Let’s be honest here: You probably already knew Indy’s playoff chances revolve around how Oladipo performs. You might be asking if there are other factors at play. There most certainly are for them. Although not nearly to the same proportion as Oladipo is.

A consistent subplot over these last three years has been the shaky pairing of Domantas Sabonis and Myles Turner. Nate McMillan, whose coaching has been among the best in the league during that time, has tried his darndest to make the pairing work. The Pacers aren’t worse when they share the court together – they have a plus-2.1 net rating as a duo — but they clearly don’t make the team better together.

It’s clear that this team ain’t big enough for the two of ‘em, and this season, Sabonis has made it obvious that he is the better player of the two. Indiana should probably look into trading Turner this summer, but that’s not relevant for why this is all being brought up. The point is, if the Pacers want to go the distance, they have to mix and match those two to the best of their abilities.

In other words, they need to stop putting themselves on the court together for an extended period of time. It’s a shame because they are two of Indiana’s best players that just happen to play at their best at the same position. The playoffs are about playing the best lineups and exploiting the best matchups. In order to do that, they shouldn’t be playing at the same time.

Having two really good centers can be a positive though. It makes it so that the Pacers will always have at least one of them on the floor at all times. That can do wonders for them.

There are other factors at play here. TJ Warren will be getting his first taste of playoff action. He’s done an excellent job replacing Bojan Bogdanovic this season, but who knows if that is going to continue when the playoffs start? Aaron Holiday has a much bigger role than he had last year and did not get much playoff burn as a rookie. If the Pacers entrust him in the playoffs, is he going to fill in Cory Joseph’s shoes?

There’s also the playoff formatting that’s still very much in the air. If they do the standard formatting, Indiana will be facing Miami in the first round for what should be a very entertaining – not to mention nostalgic – playoff series. If they decide to do seeding based on league standings, they would face Denver, which would provide a fair amount of fun matchups. We may not even get that either.

Whatever the case is, Indiana can at least sleep well at night knowing that this go-round, they’ll have their best player back on the team to lead the fight.

The biggest question is how much of the said best player will be there when they do.

Developing news: the NBA is forging a path towards resuming the season, something that didn’t seem all that likely a couple of months ago. Now there are still quite a few things needed to be addressed before a resumption, but things have seemingly gained momentum within the past week or so.

Different scenarios have been floated around. But the ultimate question, should the season indeed resume, is how? Will the NBA opt to go only with the teams that were in a playoff spot before the shutdown, or will they include the bubble teams who had a fighting shot at the playoffs as well?

We’ve begun a new series here at Basketball Insiders in which, assuming those bubble teams have a legit shot, we take a look at not only the potential issues each team may face, but the x-factors that could swing their favor in their respective quests toward the postseason.

Today, we look at the Memphis Grizzlies, one of the regular season’s biggest surprises. Of course, nobody would blame you if you picked them to miss the postseason — they came into the season as an extremely young team with not a lot of experience. And they started the season about as you would have expected, 14 losses in their first 20 games. Come 2020, their record stood at 13-35 as they sat near the bottom of the Western Conference.

Then, on Jan. 4, something changed. A big 140-114 win on the road against the Los Angeles Clippers, a team many expected to represent the conference in the NBA Finals, set off a chain reaction. From there, the Grizzlies would go on to win seven straight as they cemented themselves a spot in the race for the conference’s last playoff spot. When the NBA suspended play on March 11, Memphis sat at 32-33 and 3.5 games ahead of the Portland Trail Blazers for the eighth spot in the conference.

So, what exactly could prove the Grizzlies x-factor should the season resume? First and foremost would be the health of budding star Jaren Jackson Jr.

After a pretty solid rookie season in 2018-19, Jackson appeared on an upward trajectory prior to his injury. The archetype of the modern big, he is an elite defender with a great range from beyond the arc. He may not shoot the prettiest ball, but it goes in nonetheless: the former Michigan State Spartan took 6.3 three-point attempts per game and knocked them down at a near 40 percent clip. He’s active around the basket and, given his size and potential in the pick-and-roll, Jackson is the perfect complement to the Grizzlies fellow phenom and future star, Ja Morant.

Prior to the league shutdown, Jackson had missed nine straight with a left knee injury. His absence was evident — Memphis went 4-5 in his absence after that aforementioned seven-game win-streak — and a potential return could give the Grizzlies the boost they need to solidify their position in the standings.

While Memphis would have almost certainly have preferred to have Jackson in the lineup, they may have stumbled upon another potential x-factor in his absence: Josh Jackson.

The former lottery pick had a humbling experience to start this season, as the team essentially told him not to show up to training camp and instead had him immediately assigned to their G-League team, the Memphis Hustle.

Down in the G-League, Jackson was given the opportunity to hone his craft, expand his repertoire and further build on the talent that made him the fourth pick back in 2017. Later in the year, the Grizzlies seemingly liked what they saw: recalled to the team in late January, Jackson proved a nice spark for the team off the bench as averaged 10.4 points, 1.7 assists 3.2 rebounds and a steal per game in 18 contests. In that time, Jackson also shot a career-high 43.9 percent from the field.

Of course, there was never any question about his talent — Jackson was a lottery pick for a reason — but in his short time with the Phoenix Suns, Jackson just couldn’t put it together. That said, he’s shown some serious improvement defensively and in terms of his shot selection and, still only 23-years-old, he could quickly become a major difference-maker for Memphis off the bench. In the short-term, his improvements should only serve to benefit the team’s postseason chances.

Their youth and inexperience, something that has often been regarded as their biggest weakness, could also serve as another wild card or x-factor for the Grizzlies. Only three players — Gorgui Deng, Jonas Valanciunas and Kyle Anderson — are over the age of 26, and the energy their young legs would bring to any potential tournament could serve as their ace in the hole.

Looking back toward the standings, the San Antonio Spurs and Portland Trail Blazers, two veteran-laden teams with significantly more experience than Memphis, loom large. Should the NBA give those teams on the bubble a real opportunity to reach the postseason, the Grizzlies’ youth will have to play a significant role. Of course, their inexperience may prove fatal, given the amount of time away from the game.

But, over the course of the season, Memphis proved a resilient bunch — there’s no reason to think that might change should the season resume.